In the case of methods and systems that assist the driver in driving maneuvers, a distinction is made between pure distance-measuring systems, semi-automatic systems and fully automatic systems. In the case of the distance-measuring systems, the surroundings of the vehicle are detected and the distance to objects in the surroundings of the vehicle is displayed to the driver. Further assistance for suitable steering angle changes for carrying out the driving maneuver are not provided to the driver.
In the case of semi-automatic systems, the detected surroundings are used for calculating a suitable trajectory, along which the driving maneuver, for example, a maneuver of entering or leaving a parking space, may be carried out. For driving along the trajectory, the driver is provided steering instructions, the driver still steers the vehicle independently and also carries out the longitudinal movement of the vehicle independently, i.e., braking, accelerating and maintaining speed. In addition to these systems, systems are also known in which the system takes over the steering. In this case, the driver's only responsibility is the longitudinal guidance of the vehicle.
In contrast, in the case of fully automatic systems, the system takes over both the longitudinal guidance as well as the lateral guidance, i.e., the steering of the vehicle, and the driver has only a monitoring function.
A method and a device for assisting a driver of a vehicle when maneuvering out of a parking space is discussed, for example, in WO-A 2009/121534. In this case, the length of the parking space is initially measured and a trajectory for maneuvering out of a parking space is calculated based on the data obtained by the measurement. Subsequently, the vehicle is moved automatically along the trajectory for maneuvering out of the parking space. To avoid a collision with objects adjacent to the parking space, the distance to objects adjacent to the parking space is monitored during the maneuver out of the parking space. As soon as the vehicle is in a position which makes it possible to maneuver out of the parking space without a collision, the automatic process of maneuvering out of a parking space is terminated.
A disadvantage of this method is, however, that at the point in time of the transfer after termination of the automatic control, an arbitrarily even very large steering angle may be set, which may cause the driver to move the vehicle too rapidly after the transfer while retaining the steering angle, and the risk exists of a collision with, for example, the oncoming traffic.